PARIS: Global production of automobiles tumbled by 16 percent last year to a level last seen in 2010 as the industry was pummelled by the coronavirus pandemic, an international carmaker association said Thursday.

With a drop to less than 78 million units sold, the auto sector faced "its worst crisis ever," the president of the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA), Fu Bingfeng, said in a statement.

A breakdown of the organisation's data showed that in Europe, the drop in output was 21 percent, while in North America it fell by 20 percent and in South America by 30 percent.

In Asia however, which accounts for half of all vehicles produced worldwide, the decline was more modest, at 10 percent.

Chinese production "which was hit hard in 2020's first months, recovered very quickly; all in all, the Chinese reduction in production has been limited to only two percent," the OICA statement noted.

The full-year figure was "equivalent to 2010's sales levels," it added while Fu said: "The 2020 results wipes off all the growth made over the last 10 years."